Times change fast nowadays, and business continuity and disaster recovery training has an increasingly significant role to play. With the balance of economic and strategic importance shifting towards Asia over the last ten years, BC and DR planning requirements have also changed. The Australian Government led by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard brought out the first National Security Strategy in January of this year. Naturally, what affects a nation’s security can also affect individual organisations and enterprises. So what does Australia’s first National Security Strategy see as major threats to be addressed?
In a published website statement of January 23, 2013, much of the description of the strategy for national security was expressed in terms of political threats, terrorism and crime, including cybercrime. While these are all potential risks for organisations of any size because of the possibility of danger to personnel, damage to assets and denial of access to premises, among others, they are not the only factors involved. However, it was interesting to note the way the former Prime Minister started a speech she gave on the same day with a reference to incidents in Coonabarabran, and probably therefore to the recent bush fires in that region – an element covered in the strategy document itself, but not in the website statement.
All these things have to be factored in when making sure that an enterprise can recover from disaster or continue to function. The National Security Strategy may have a focus on changing global conditions, yet it is still up to the individual business continuity planning person or team to check all of the potential threats to continuity. Balanced training and expert advice from professional Business Continuity instructors helps organisations to get up to speed on this, and also to refresh their knowledge as political and economic conditions change.